Aris of Caelis spent every morning sitting on the ledge in front of her bedroom window hidden in her Shade form. Here she could look down onto the street below which was only a block away from the market square. Rain or shine, students and staff trickled in and out of buildings with the density of people growing along with the rising sun.

She couldn’t see any of it, of course, but she could see all of it. Blobs and glowing lights flitted across her vision as people and animals passed and she practiced making sense of what she could see. Now that she was no longer hindered with relentless pain, she found patterns in the way that things moved in her ‘vision’, which those who know of her newfound sight agree is the Great Solvent itself. Occasionally, lights would burst and disperse along a surface to outline shapes in the space - these were shapes that Aris could recognize as terrain or objects around the Academy.

The bursts of light came from smaller spots of light which she recognized as runes. Which runes they were and why they sparked that way remained a mystery.

Aris continued her study of the people below for as long as she could bear it. It no longer hurt but trying to focus on the strange lights and glimmers still made her dizzy and nauseous after a while. She wasn’t going to complain - not that long ago, simply going into Shade form was enough to drive her mad with pain. For some reason that effect disappeared overnight right before Ral went to her.

She drifted back into her small room and materialized onto her bed to lie on her back, carefully avoiding ‘looking’ at anything in particular. Her first few days back on the island was spent trying desperately to not look at anything while recovering at a private infirmary. The proximity to people and runes was sensory overload so she spent most of her time asleep to avoid it. But she wasn’t able to run from it forever so she worked with Camaz to distance herself from her vision.

In retrospect it would have been most efficient for her to stay at the lighthouse again - she had refused outright when Camaz offered her old room back. Not only would it dredge up old memories she had no desire to recall, the sheer amount of rune-inscribed books would be enough to make her head spin. Furthermore, she was supposed to be a student at the Academy now by some strange twist of the Solvent. It would be inappropriate for her to live with a Professor, especially now it was common knowledge that they are not related.

To her surprise, Laell offered to share a student residence with her. The runist had gotten quite an upgrade ever since she survived the field trip with Camaz and was in a larger place that had a spare room. “I-I didn’t really want it,” she had muttered when they first spoke about it. “But G-Gardlo insisted. There will be p-plenty of space for you and i-it’s close to Ral’s place.”

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Ral’s place was actually Verne’s place. When she was able to leave the infirmary, Aris had the impression she would be living with her brother again but discovered Ral was prepared to sleep in a random cave like a wild animal over the duration of his time as a student. Camaz and Verne had to dissuade the dumbass to live in an actual house and Ral only accepted it when Verne said he needed a roommate. Aris knew that was a lie since she recalled quite clearly Verne didn’t have a roommate ever since enrolling in the Academy.

There was a strong suspicion that both Verne and Laell offered to live with them as a way to keep an eye on them - both of them earned Camaz’s utmost trust and respect after their trip and were perfect for that role. But honestly, Aris was more than a little relieved to live with Laell instead of her brother. She had, after all, tried to kill Ral.

The thought was enough to turn her already soured mood worse. She sat up and ran her hands over her face, fingers rolling over the hard lumps of where her eyes used to be. The old anger came back ever so often, the one that whispered about how she hadn’t lived the life she was bestowed at birth and that it was torn from her by forces that liked to toy with lives. The desire to right the wrongs… the desire to wrestle it back. Some feelings never die regardless of how badly one is punished for it.

But the fact that it led her down a path where she felt justified in killing her own brother… It was like a bucket of cold water crashing into her. It made sense in the moment and that was what scared her the most. A complete loss of her senses and reasoning over one that eclipsed everything in entirety. How can he ever forgive her? How can she begin to ask for his forgiveness? She gave a huff of frustration and her hand sank down to the bed with a thump.

Maybe she didn’t deserve it. That thought dissipated her anger and only brought a bleak helplessness that made it hard to breathe. Instead of lying on the bed and feeling sorry for herself, she made herself get up to look for Laell.

Camaz had warned her about using her Shade form too often but Aris felt the topic was moot. She’s done too much to her own solute already, done too much to her physical body and tormented her mind for long enough for her to not give a fuck about using her abilities. Besides, it would be impossible for her to move around without flitting around like a ghost. The only time she could walk around in her physical form was under the guidance of someone else holding her arm and she hated the feeling of being so completely dependent on someone else. So when she went out, she turned invisible to the world and haunted the little island of the Academy.

She felt it was fitting. Perhaps she was just a shadow of the girl that used to live here.